Gabrial Marks has decommitted from SMU per B2G Sports tweet

[ojaipony]

JJ never said: "hey, don't worry I'm not going anywhere." And then left to the very place he said he wouldn't go to! He met with ASU quietly ... he didn't tweet anything, he checked with SO first, etc. I'm not saying the guy's a saint but if you are comparing him to Klemm, you better check the facts ... Klemm lied and is taking our recruits ... how do you look a kid in the eyes and say "hey, nevermind all that [deleted] I told you about SMU ... you can trust me NOW ... it's kind of like dating a woman cheating on her husband -- if she's cheating on him, what do you think she's going to do to you?

I admire your loyalty and trust me I want a winner here and if Jones is the one to bring it thats wonderful. That being said, your statement implies that if Jones would have gone to ASU, he would not have gone after the SMU commits and I just don't believe that at all.

Thanks.

JJ might have gone after our recruits. I'm not implying that. I'm not dealing with hypotheticals, I'm dealing with what actually happened. I just find it mind boggling that no one criticizes Klemm (the dude who lied and IS NOT HERE) and piling on JJ (the guy who did NOT lie and IS HERE!). Get behind the guy who's here and remind these recruits that our program isn't one dude that you can't even trust to begin with.

Fascinating.

And, thanks LA Mustang for calling my post the most ridiculous one of the year. I love how you attack someone personally: a fellow alum who supports the program with money and in other ways. I'm not necessarily a JJ fan, but he's HERE and has the proven track record that no one else has at SMU post-DP. The FACTS.

[Dwan]

I think all the doom and gloom is more of a reflection of how fans are in love with the star system that goes with recruiting. The reaction is, we lost our 4-Star. Marks has about 6 offers from low level BCS schools like Colorado, Utah, Washington State, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt. The guy is probably over ranked as a 4 star and should be a solid 3 star. Great get for a school like SMU to get a player with five BCS offers, but lets not make this guy out to be a top 100 in the nation or even top 300 in the nation type of player. Would love to have him and losing him is a major blow, but this is not Eric Dickerson signing with A&M

[redpony]

Ojaipony - you are correct JJ never said '"hey, don't worry I'm not going anywhere."
He just made numerous statements that SMU was going to be his last coaching job. Sounds like the 'lies' are similar- no? Do you believe JJ would have stayed had the ASU offer not been pulled?
However, the real issue is Wins and losses. You can't win in a big time program with poor quality players that are under-coached by coaches who mostly are only interested in getting their paychecks.
Prior to the ASU fiasco I was a firm JJ supporter. Now that I have seen what he is really like I am considering 'retiring' my support for the fball program until changes are made.
Obviously JJ doesn't consider recruiting very important. I believe his comment was that he would look into getting a 'recruiting person' some time after the signing date. Real sense of urgency- right?

GO PONIES!!!

[FIVE-O-FAN]

I give Jones all the credit in the world for getting this program to where it is, but I also can't help but fault him a little right now for keeping it from where it could have been. This program was about to turn a corner in recruiting.

[redpony]

Very correct that you use the term WAS. I will reserve judgement until after signing date but I suspect we have been set back 2-4 years in our progress. JJ is like honeybadger- he just doesn't give a crap. He is on the same level as Joe Paterno when it comes to ethics and integrity.

GO PONIES!!!

[Wuba]

Very correct that you use the term WAS. I will reserve judgement until after signing date but I suspect we have been set back 2-4 years in our progress. JJ is like honeybadger- he just doesn't give a crap. He is on the same level as Joe Paterno when it comes to ethics and integrity.

GO PONIES!!!

Hate to tell you, but making that comparison undermines everything you have to say about JJ because it shows that you have lost all perspective.

And to be clear, I meant the Joe Paterno comparison, not the honey badger comparison. I thought the honey badger comparison was overly generous to JJ.

[redpony]

Wuba- sorry to disagree. In my little world ethics are ethics and integrity are integrity- you either have it or you don't. The degree of having or not having is it inessential. If you rob a bank does it make a difference if it is a big one or a small one?- it is still a crime. JoePa's cover up was inexcusible and so are some of the things jj has done. My sentiments- doesn't matter if you accept that opinion or not. I understand other points of view but they don't influence my sentiments about my university and what needs to be done to correct this situation.

GO PONIES!!!

[SoCal_Pony]

I give Jones all the credit in the world for getting this program to where it is, but I also can't help but fault him a little right now for keeping it from where it could have been. This program was about to turn a corner in recruiting.

This is a statement made by many which I feel is worthy of a separate thread.

I give JJ credit. I give CoC and SO more credit.

No way CoC would commit $10M with our then existing Model, these are smart folks.

To quote JJ himself: 'Forrest, Tom, Mike Cavan and Phil didn't have a chance to win...The system was not set up to win. I really think I'm the only Coach since the Death Penalty that's been given an opportunity to truly be on a level playing field'

Not saying JJ didn’t play a role, just saying IMO it is overstated by many on here. Whose to say that with changes in our Model and a different coach at $2M per year we wouldn't be in the same or better place. That is open to debate.

[LA_Mustang]

Thanks

JJ might have gone after our recruits. I'm not implying that. I'm not dealing with hypotheticals, I'm dealing with what actually happened. I just find it mind boggling that no one criticizes Klemm (the dude who lied and IS NOT HERE) and piling on JJ (the guy who did NOT lie and IS HERE!). Get behind the guy who's here and remind these recruits that our program isn't one dude that you can't even trust to begin with.

Fascinating.

And, thanks LA Mustang for calling my post the most ridiculous one of the year. I love how you attack someone personally: a fellow alum who supports the program with money and in other ways. I'm not necessarily a JJ fan, but he's HERE and has the proven track record that no one else has at SMU post-DP. The FACTS.

I wasn't attacking you personally. I don't know you at all. I'm a fellow alum who supports the program with money and season tickets too. But I was attacking your comment because I feel it's totally off base. I LOVE what JJ has done for this school and program but he royally screwed us over with the ASU fiasco. He is saying he wants to be here now because he has no other choice. Klemm left because he knows JJ is not long for SMU. If he was, I firmly believe Klemm would still be here, and so would the recruits.

[ojaipony]

I think all the doom and gloom is more of a reflection of how fans are in love with the star system that goes with recruiting. The reaction is, we lost our 4-Star. Marks has about 6 offers from low level BCS schools like Colorado, Utah, Washington State, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt. The guy is probably over ranked as a 4 star and should be a solid 3 star. Great get for a school like SMU to get a player with five BCS offers, but lets not make this guy out to be a top 100 in the nation or even top 300 in the nation type of player. Would love to have him and losing him is a major blow, but this is not Eric Dickerson signing with A&M

Completely agree. Great post.

[ojaipony]

Ojaipony - you are correct JJ never said '"hey, don't worry I'm not going anywhere."
He just made numerous statements that SMU was going to be his last coaching job. Sounds like the 'lies' are similar- no? Do you believe JJ would have stayed had the ASU offer not been pulled?
However, the real issue is Wins and losses. You can't win in a big time program with poor quality players that are under-coached by coaches who mostly are only interested in getting their paychecks.
Prior to the ASU fiasco I was a firm JJ supporter. Now that I have seen what he is really like I am considering 'retiring' my support for the fball program until changes are made.
Obviously JJ doesn't consider recruiting very important. I believe his comment was that he would look into getting a 'recruiting person' some time after the signing date. Real sense of urgency- right?

GO PONIES!!!

No, I don't think JJ would have stayed. I'm not really understanding the "coaches who mostly are only interested in getting their paychecks". That may be true, I don't know. I think ultimately JJ is just too laid back a dude to get us to top 10 (or maybe even top 25). Your comment regarding "real sense of urgency" I completely agree with. My biggest criticism of JJ, I think, is just his personality most likely at the end of the day.

I will not be pulling my support at all no matter who the coach is. It's my alma mater come heck or high water.

[03Mustang]

Well at least they can't say we can't get commitments from 4 stars any more- Moreland's next I guess Lewis is 4 star on Scout-we're going to lose them all

They can still say we get commitments but that's about it...they never actually enroll. I could be wrong but I don't think we've ever had a 4* recruit commit and actually enroll. Pretty sad state of affairs at this point in JJ's tenure.

I still blame the fanbase - particularly the non-ponyfans.com checking alumni - as the root of the problem. Definitely in the corner that none of this is going to improve under any coach until we get a much larger and more passionate fan base.

[Dwan]

Just read the interview with Marks. Safe to say the JJ flirtations with ASU and UCLA had a lot to do with this and then Klemm leaving sealed the deal. As SMU fans we are tortured by bad luck. I cant really blame Jones or blame Klemm, that is the coaching business. The fact that JJ was interviewing with ASU during the biggest post DP recruiting weekend is uncanny timing that could only happen at SMU. Had those recruits come a week later I dont think this would be as bad with the decommits. When you are on campus and your future head coach is interviewing is a killer. And again, I cant really blame Jones for interviewing.

[giacfsp]

I'm far more interested in the guys who stay committed to SMU.

[Dwan]

UCLA supposedly pulled Marks offer. No source other than the UCLA premium board. They seem to see him going to play for Mike Leach at Washington State. You would have to assume is best friend and fellow undersized but fast WR Robert Lewis will follow him. How about the irony if the non of the Klemm recruits go to UCLA but to WSU.